Google is shuttering its Podcasts app
U.S. users will no longer be able to stream from the podcasts app directly after April 2.
In a move to bring all of its audio-based services to YouTube, Google has told its podcast app’s users in the U.S. to migrate subscriptions to YouTube Music by April 2 to continue to stream their favorite shows.
The plan is to completely shutter the service globally in 2024 and have it live on YouTube Music. Google says it will offer U.S. users additional time to save their subscriptions and migrate them, but they will no longer be able to stream from the podcasts app directly after April 2.
Google Podcasts, which was released in June 2018 for Android devices, allows users to create, find and listen to podcasts for free. It has been installed on over 500 million Android devices globally and is also available on Apple's App Store.
There are over 460 million podcast listeners worldwide, but Google Podcasts has just 1.2% of that audience, according to one estimate. The company hopes to grow its market share by leveraging YouTube's over 2.7 billion users globally, so it can compete with leaders Spotify and Apple in the podcast industry.
